I like to talk about the Incarnation at Christmas. I suspect that most pastors do. We’re suckers for the gospel, particularly the gospel that starts in the womb of an impoverished, unwed, teenage girl. Of all the different gospels being preached today, the one initiated in Mary seems to be the genuine article, impervious to improvisation and immediately distinguishable from the life-enhancing gospels that are currently in vogue. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Christmas, Gospel, Incarnation, Jesus, Mary

May God bless you with a restless discomfort about easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships, so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart. May God bless you with holy anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may tirelessly work for justice, freedom, and peace among all people. May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy. May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you really CAN make a difference in this world, so that you are able, with God’s grace, to do what others claim. via

Tags: Blessings, Prayers

Gordon Atkinson, blogdom’s Real Live Preacher, has an uncanny ability to articulate so many of the thoughts that run through my mind as a young pastor. For instance, here’s an excerpt from one of Gordon’s posts: Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Christianity, Church, Ministry, Preaching

I’ve noticed an interesting, if not disconcerting, trend within the Christian subculture. It may be nothing new, just something I was overlooking. If so, you can write me off as an imperceptive alarmist. But as I’ve been listening to people, particularly Christians, talk about Christianity, it surfaces over and over again. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Church, Discipleship, Gospel, Jesus

In his book, Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing out of Sync?, author Seth Godin, the most popular marketing blogger in the world, talks briefly about why blogging matters. His own blog is something of a conundrum for one simple reason: Seth doesn’t allow commenting. But that’s just like Seth. He is a provocateur, and he preaches a gospel — and I’m using the term loosely — that embraces innovation and inspires change. I’ve been reading his books for years. And one of the things that draws me to Seth is his no-nonsense approach to just about everything. He sees things differently, and, as a result, he does things differently. I like that. The fact that his comments are turned off is very “Godin.” And his reasons for publishing a comment-free blog make sense. Though I often wonder if he hasn’t betrayed the medium itself by spurning comments. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Blogging, Gospel, Seth Godin

Highlighting some recent statistics, my friend J.R. asks his readers to pray for pastors. You can read his full post here. Two things leap off the page: First, fifteen hundred pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or contention in their churches. Second, the majority of pastors’ wives surveyed said that the most destructive event that has occurred in their marriage and family was the day they entered the ministry. Sadly, these statistics represent the lived experience of so many good men and women. In fact, my ordination certificate — signed almost a decade ago by several (wonderful) people who no longer serve in ministry because of moral failure, spiritual burnout, or contention in their churches — is a short history of how the church hemorrhages her leaders at an alarming rate. So, along with J.R., I plead with you to pray for pastors, especially the ones you know.

Tags: Burnout, Church, Depression, Ministry

Yesterday I received my copy of Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals, a new book written by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw. Holly and Ryan Sharp applied their considerable creative talents to the book’s overall design. The results are visually stunning. Each page is a fresh composition, which is no small feat for a book as long as Jesus for President is — more than 350 pages. And from what I’ve read, or more accurately skimmed, so far, the text seems to invite a fresh, artistic approach, something cost-conscious publishers usually avoid.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Chris Haw, Church, Jesus, Politics, Shane Claiborne

I am not a historian. And so what I’m about to say may be patently false. In fact, my only evidence is anecdotal, so I do run the very real risk of being wrong. But that’s okay. I’m going to say it anyway. Let me know what you think. For whatever reason, the church has always been tempted to rely on anything that appears more powerful, more productive, or more persuasive than love, and yet nothing ever is. So, tell me, what’s up with that?

Tags: Church, Jesus, Love

While my “theology” of blogging — if there is such a thing — is manifestly deficient I’m sure, I can’t help but think about the good that is created when diverse voices within the church “publish” the gospel of the kingdom with intent. This gospel, the one Jesus spoke of, is multi-themed and multi-storied and, therefore, worth talking about, worth writing about, worth thinking about, and, dare I say, worth blogging about. It is inexhaustible, perpetually relevant to every circumstance, and, very often, gloriously unsettling. And though it’s been said before, it’s worth repeating: we will never fully plumb its depths or scale its heights. It’s just that big. Which is to say, it’s just that cosmic. And yet the gospel is also deeply personal, never impersonal, always inviting us into the new community being formed around it.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Blogging, Gospel, Jesus, Kingdom of God

Erika Haub has done it again. This time while guest blogging over at Jason Clark’s. Her post, “A bottomless pit of desires…”, challenges the prevailing notions of entitlement that exist within the (suburban) North American church. Erika writes, “Too often what I see are churches that cater to a bunch of felt needs in a given community to get people ‘in the door.’ It is no wonder, then, that churches and their leaders feel quickly overrun with an impossible list of expectations and unmet needs.” An accurate assessment? I think so, especially as the church hemorrhages her leaders at an alarming rate. Archibald Hart estimates that 1,000 North American pastors leave the ministry every month, and never return. Could they be the victims of the “felt need” frenzy that dominates so much of (suburban) church life? via

Tags: Church, Consumerism, Erika Carney Haub, Friends, Jason Clark, Kingdom of God, Made Me Think, William Willimon